2022 DIVERSITY DATABASE PREMIUM SPONSOR Paul Hastings LLP

Over the last few decades, Paul Hastings has grown from a mid-market U.S. firm to an international outfit with strengths in employment, tax, and business law and big-name clients in more than 80 countries. With offices in Beijing, Hong Kong, Seoul, Shanghai, and Tokyo, the firm has become especially strong in Asian market dealings.

It Started with Three

In 1951, Harvard law grads Bob Hastings, Lee Paul, and Leonard Janofsky pooled their ambition to form a new firm in Los Angeles. They divided the workload three ways: Janofsky handled employment law matters, Paul dealt with litigation, and Hastings managed business law. In 1962, Charles Walker joined the trio as a partner, adding his name to the masthead and establishing a tax practice. Walker took a brief sojourn from the firm in the 1970s to accept a position in the Ford administration as Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Tax Policy, but soon returned to his tax work at the firm.

The firm grew organically over the next few decades—rather than merging or acquiring other firms—including overseas in Asia and the U.K.

Doing It All

Paul Hastings is a premier global law firm with elite teams in finance, mergers and acquisitions, private equity and litigation dedicated to serving the world’s leading Wall Street and global investment banks, asset managers and corporations. It is one of a handful of law firms ranked across multiple core finance areas including structured credit, leveraged finance, private credit, capital markets, and real estate finance. It is one of the top firms in the world in The American Lawyer’s “Premier League” for momentum, profit and prestige amongst firms in the 2022 American Lawyer 100.

The firm has a bustling transactional practice with more than 450 lawyers across the globe counseling on M&A, private equity, venture capital, and much more. The firm’s client list spans more than a dozen industries, including aircraft finance and leasing, energy, development and construction, health care, franchise and distribution, government affairs, hotels and resorts, investment management, real estate, life sciences, IT and eCommerce, OSHA, sports, telecommunications and media, and securities finance and capital markets. To keep up with client demands during the global financial crisis, Paul Hastings also established a subprime mortgage and credit crisis practice area, focusing on bankruptcy and restructuring, regulatory matters, litigation and investigations, and government advisory services.

Another notable practice is employment law. The firm regularly appears among the top 10 firms in Vault’s Labor & Employment ranking and is the only firm to have been named twice as The American Lawyer’s Labor and Employment Litigation Law Firm of the Year. Among the firm’s specialties include employee benefits and ERISA, employment discrimination, international employment issues, labor management, and restrictive covenants.

Lastly, the firm has a significant real estate practice. The firm’s cross-disciplinary approach to real estate work through which lawyers in the practice area work together with the firm’s corporate, securitization and structured finance, and tax teams to assist with all aspects of a real estate transaction. The firm is in the top 10 in Vault’s Real Estate ranking.

Feeling Generous

Many firms give back through pro bono work, but Paul Hastings takes it a step further with its generous charitable giving. In the past year alone, the firm has donated to more than 140 charitable organizations. And the firm matches up to $1,000 in charitable donations per each employee every year.

• #1 Summer Associate Program, 2021 – The American Lawyer
• #5 Best Law Firms for Diversity, 2021 – Vault/Minority Corporate Counsel Association
• Mansfield Certified Plus 4.0 – 2021 
• Top 10 Best Law Firms to Work For, 2022 – Vault
• Top-ranked firm In the Financial Times' Innovative Lawyers Report across Asia, Europe and North America